BILL NUMBER: AB 1771	CHAPTERED  09/23/00

	CHAPTER   573
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   SEPTEMBER 23, 2000
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   SEPTEMBER 22, 2000
	PASSED THE SENATE   AUGUST 31, 2000
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   MAY 30, 2000

INTRODUCED BY   Committee on Agriculture (Cardoza (Chair), Maldonado
(Vice Chair), Briggs, Florez, Frusetta, Reyes, Thomson, and Wiggins)

                        JANUARY 20, 2000

   An act to amend Section 2282.5 of, and to repeal and amend Section
2282 of, the Food and Agricultural Code, relating to agricultural
pest control, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect
immediately.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1771, Committee on Agriculture.    Agricultural pest control.
   (1) Under existing law, the Secretary of the Department of Food
and Agriculture and the Director of Pesticide Regulation are
authorized to annually allocate funds to each county for specified
purposes related to agricultural pest control according to a
specified formula, but until July 1, 2000, existing law requires that
$5,500,000 of the total amount appropriated for this purpose be
utilized solely for high-risk pest exclusion activities, as
specified.
   This bill would indefinitely extend this required allocation for
high-risk pest exclusion activities, make the allocation authority of
the secretary and director subject to appropriation in the annual
Budget Act, and would make related conforming changes.
   (2) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately
as an urgency statute.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 2282 of the Food and Agricultural Code, as
added by Section 3 of Chapter 890 of the Statutes of 1999, is
repealed.
  SEC. 2.  Section 2282 of the Food and Agricultural Code, as amended
by Section 4 of Chapter 890 of the Statutes of 1999, is amended to
read:
   2282.  (a) Except as provided in Section 2282.5, and to the extent
funds are appropriated in the annual Budget Act, the Secretary of
Food and Agriculture or the Director of Pesticide Regulation may
allocate annually to each county an amount determined by the
secretary or the director not to exceed one-third of the amount
expended by the county during the previous fiscal year for the
programs of joint responsibility under the jurisdiction of the
secretary or director, as applicable.  The allocations shall be made
from funds appropriated to the secretary or the director for purposes
of carrying out activities of joint responsibility with the
commissioners at the local levels.
   (b) The annual report to the Legislature required by Section 2281
shall include findings for each of the following joint programs,
including the amounts allocated to, and expended by, the counties in
the previous fiscal year and the proposed amount to be allocated by
the secretary for each program for the ensuing budget year:
   (1) Pest detection.
   (2) Pest eradication.
   (3) Pest management control.
   (4) Pest exclusion.
   (5) Seed inspection.
   (6) Nursery inspection.
   (7) Fruit and vegetable quality control.
   (8) Egg quality control.
   (9) Apiary inspection.
   (10) Crop statistics.
   The report shall also specify the programs that have been
augmented with state funds each year since 1980 because of new
legislative mandates, or because of pest infestations or outbreaks
occurring since that date, and the annual amounts of those
augmentations.
  SEC. 3.  Section 2282.5 of the Food and Agricultural Code is
amended to read:
   2282.5.  (a) The development of work plans for allocation of the
funding appropriated in the Budget Act to the department for local
assistance for agricultural plant and animal pest and disease
prevention shall be the responsibility of the department.  The
department shall establish criteria for the development of the work
plans and for allocating the appropriated funds.
   (b) Of the amount appropriated in the Budget Act to the department
for local assistance for agricultural plant and animal pest and
disease prevention, five million five hundred thousand dollars
($5,500,000) shall be utilized solely for high-risk pest exclusion
activities.  The work plans for the exclusion of high-risk pests
shall be developed by the department with the county agricultural
commissioners and in consultation with affected industry
representatives.  In order to determine the effectiveness of
high-risk pest exclusion programs in each county, the criteria
established by the department for the work plan shall include, but
need not be limited to, the following:
   (1) The number of high-risk plant shipments entering each county.

   (2) The number of high-risk entry points in each county.
   (3) The number of state action quarantine pests intercepted or
detected annually in each county.
   (4) The work hours expended by each county in conducting exclusion
of high-risk pests.
   (5) The rate of interceptions and rejections per inspection
activity.
   (c) To remain eligible for funding under this section, a county
shall maintain its support of ongoing operational costs of the county
agricultural commissioner programs listed in subdivision (b) of
Section 2282, at 1997-98 fiscal year levels.
   (d) Funds allocated for high-risk pest exclusion activities
pursuant to subdivision (b) may not be expended for any purpose other
than the exclusion or detection of high-risk pests consistent with
the work plans prescribed in subdivision (a) or scientific
evaluation.  Funds allocated by each county on or after September 28,
1998, shall not be allocated to other programs listed in subdivision
(b) of Section 2282 until the county work plan is approved by the
department consistent with the funding appropriated in the Budget Act
to the department for local assistance for agricultural plant and
animal pest and disease prevention for this purpose.
  SEC. 4.  This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect.  The facts constituting the necessity are:
   In order to make changes to certain provisions affecting
agriculture prior to their repeal, thereby protecting public health
and safety, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.
